Laravel Relationship error trying to call a relationship within the model - laravel

Question

On Laravel "4.1.x-dev",
How can I call a method on a relation within the model? From the below example
public function userLink() {
return $this->user->link;
}
My function userLink gives me the error : Relationship method must return an object of type Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\Relation
Also is there another way for me to access the linked user from Drawing with some kind of eager loading trick?
I have several different type of users. Each type of user has it's own table with an ID in each table that corresponds to the *ID** of the users table. In my Users model I have a method called ''link'' that performs a ''morphTo'' and gets me the correct user object.
class Drawing extends Eloquent {
public function user() {
return $this->belongsTo('User', 'user_id');
}
// this throws the relation error above, also I beleive this does two queries, anyway to improve this?
public function userLink() {
return $this->user->link;
}
}
class User extends Eloquent {
public function link() {
return $this->morphTo('User', 'type', 'id');
}
}
class Retailer extends Eloquent {
public function user() {
return $this->belongsTo('User', 'id');
}
}
class Manufacturer extends Eloquent {
public function user() {
return $this->belongsTo('User', 'id');
}
}

Answer 1

Try this instead:
Drawing::first()->user->link;
or this:
// Drawing model
public function user()
{
return $this->belongsTo('User', 'user_id');
}
// Drawing model
// Requires above relation
public function userLink()
{
return $this->user->link;
}
Then:
$ulink = Drawing::first()->userLink();
Also check the Defining An Accessor.
Update: Just make changes to your method like this (Create an accessor):
public function getUserLinkAttribute()
{
return $this->user->link;
}